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When is an island not an island?
When is an island not an island? When it’s the spectacular tidal Holy Island on the Northumberland coast! I am currently working with travel and transport consultants Martin Higgitt Associates and PJA to develop a sustainable travel and transport strategy for the Island, commissioned by the Northumberland Coast National Landscape team. I’m looking specifically at…
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Going Wild in Haweswater
Going Wild in Haweswater This dramatic and tranquil Lake District landscape, surrounding the Haweswater Reservoir, is at the heart of the Eastern Fells Landscape Recovery Project. The team is already delivering successful landscape restoration works alongside nature-friendly farming, for the benefit of wildlife, water and people, and has exciting plans through the LRP to do…
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All about Being Human
All about Being Human I’ve long been a fan of the annual Being Human Festival, which engages people with academic research into the Humanities in fun and fascinating ways every November. So it’s been great fun working with Dr Claire Bessant of Northumbria University and photographer Chris Woodcock (White Oak Studios), both local friends and…
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More than a meme
All the feels – more than a meme Check out page 20 of the summer edition of The Journal of the Association for Heritage Interpretation for an article written by my lovely colleague, mentor and friend Carolyn Lloyd Brown and me, about using emotional mapping to plot sense of place at heritage sites. Carolyn begins…
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You can’t dampen our enthusiasm!
You can’t dampen our enthusiasm! There was an appropriately biblical deluge during my recent site visit to historic St Peter’s Church in Bywell, between Newcastle and Hexham, with fund-raising colleague Katherine Williams. Fortunately, our meetings were inside; nevertheless, the rain thundering on the roof threatened to drown out our words once or twice! We’ve been…
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Turner on the Tyne
Turner on the Tyne I was delighted to attend the preview for the fabulous new JMW Turner exhibition – Art, Industry & Nostalgia – at the Laing in Newcastle yesterday. There was a real buzz around the event, as this is the first time that Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire has been to the north of…
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Big news for Bailiffgate
Big news for Bailiffgate Bailiffgate Museum & Art Gallery has just been awarded development funding of £197,000 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to begin their move to the historic Northumberland Hall in Alnwick’s market place. This gives the team the exciting opportunity to draw up detailed plans for revitalising the Grade I listed building,…
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OOT & ABOOT comes home
OOT & ABOOT comes home I’m delighted to announce that OOT & ABOOT, the interactive oral-history-based touring exhibition about beautiful Coquetdale in Northumberland, has found a permanent home. Many of the stories, objects and interactives, which were Highly Commended in Association for Heritage Interpretation’s 2023 Engaging People Awards, are now part of the local history…